The world’s steepest streets

Obscure geography trivia time: where would you find the steepest street in the world?

You might guess San Francisco. If you’re a Guinness Book of Records-reading smart alec, you might say New Zealand. As it turns out, you’d be wrong – probably. In fact, nobody seems quite sure which is the world’s steepest, and then there’s the problem of what exactly counts as a street anyway.

But we’ve looked into it, got out protractors out, and can now reveal the not-quite-scientifically-verified Google Sightseeing Top Six World’s Steepest Streets! And happily, the intrepid Street View car has struggled its way up (or down) all of them. Here they are, in reverse order:

6) Dornbush Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

In the East Hills area of the city, this quiet-looking residential street has been surveyed at a 31.98% grade – that’s a 17.7° slope. The Street View car missed out one section of the steepest part, which is one-way in the downhill direction. Check out the heavy-duty concrete staircase.

5) Maria Avenue, Spring Valley, California

Here’s a prime example of the “We’ve got a grid system and we’re damn well going to stick to it” school of city planning. Google’s Terrain view shows how the north-south street pattern has been laid out with no regard whatsoever to the steep contours – in fact you have to wonder whether the planners had ever even visited the site!

Maria Avenue marches straight up the southern slope of Dictionary Hill, attaining a surveyed grade of 32% (17.7°) just north of Chestnut Street. This section of road seems to be paved with concrete, and is cut off from the section above: Street View leaps straight across the gap, missing out this part of the road. The next block to the east would have been even steeper – Buena Vista Avenue is shown on the street map, but the builders understandably admitted defeat there.

4) Baxter Street and Fargo Street, Los Angeles, California

We’ll call this one a tie. These two streets are right next to one another in the Silver Lake district of LA, and both have been measured at 32%, but they get the nod over Maria Avenue on account of being altogether more exciting.

Baxter Street goes up and up and up… but then it goes down almost as steeply, giving the alarming impression that you’re about to drive off a cliff as you approach the summit.

Fargo Street is much shorter – only one block – but that’s plenty long enough for the cyclists who enter the annual Fargo Street Hill Climb. In 2008 one nutter rode up it 101 times in one day.

3) Eldred Street, Los Angeles, California

Just pipping Baxter and Fargo, with a 33% (18.3°) grade at its topmost end, LA’s steepest is in the Highland Park area. It rises 67m over only 400m, which presents some interesting challenges for its residents, according to an entertaining LA Times article.

2) Baldwin Street, Dunedin, New Zealand

Despite being listed in the Guinness Book of Records (and having that sign at the bottom), Baldwin Street doesn’t make the top slot. True, the top section attains an impressive 35% (19.3°) grade; true, it’s quite a slog walking up, even with the steps at the side1; and true, sliding down it in a wheelie bin is a very bad idea; but it’s not the steepest. Unless anyone else knows better, the winner is…

1) Canton Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The signs at the top say “Do Not Enter”, and in slippery conditions you’d do well to heed them. Canton Avenue, a short cobbled street in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighbourhood attains a whopping 37%, or 20.3°, gradient, making it the steepest public road in the United States – and, quite possibly, the world. This YouTube video shows what happens when you try and cycle up it, and this article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has more photos, giving an idea what it’s like to live there in winter. You can bet the residents of this house at the bottom of the hill are quite glad of that crash barrier out the front.

Honourable mentions

Here are a few other contenders that, for various reasons, didn’t quite “make the grade”…

West 28th Street, San Pedro, Los Angeles

Apparently this is officially the steepest LA street, at 33.3% (18.4°, just pipping Eldred), but looking at it on Street View, the steep portion is pathetically short. Next!

Ffordd Pen Llech, Harlech, Wales

This lane, said to be the steepest in Britain, plunges down the side of the steep hill topped by Harlech Castle. Sadly, Street View hasn’t reached rural north Wales yet, but there is high-resolution aerial imagery. The sign at the top claims it to be a 40% (21.8°) slope, but that seems dubious. And in any case, look at the sign just below the gradient warning: “Anaddas i fodur”. Unsuitable for motors. Disqualified on a technicality…

Waipio Valley Road, Hawaii

Now we’re talking: 45% gradient, or 24.2° – just look at those contour lines! Sadly, although this potential record-breaker is paved, it is restricted to 4WD vehicles – and in any case, it’s out in the wilds of the north of the Big Island, and with no houses on it you can hardly call this one a street. Still, it looks like quite a drive, judging by the pictures on this page.

As your Google Sightseeing correspondent can vouch for from personal experience. ↩

Um…Seattle? I can’t believe no one looked at this. Queen Anne Ave. S., 12th Ave S. going up Beacon Hill, Madison going up First Hill out of town…oh James St. going up first hill, that’s probably the most traveled steep street ever. There’s a zillion streets that are a manual transmission nightmare in Seattle, especially when your stuck in traffic and a hot-shot yuppie in his/her BMW is riding your tail.

I live just by the side of Jutland street. Infact my balcony just hangs above it :-D). During the new year snow fall this time it was the perfect spot for snowboarders…I have seen many cars struggling to drive up the slope…so i believe it does deserve the title of the “Steepest street in Manchester”…

I’ve driven right by Canton Ave. in Pittsburgh several times for work. I can’t say that I was aware of its status as steepest in the world, but it certainly got a reaction out of me that I won’t repeat on a family site like this.

That looks quite impressive, djtino – I’d missed that one. I’ve also since discovered another contender, right here in England, which is rumoured to have a gradient of 1 in 2.4, or 42% / 22.6 degrees. It’s Vale Street in Bristol, but it looks like only the very bottom section is that steep, if any:

I never knew there was a difference between the “street” and “road” until now. However, the rules are much more vague than just urban/rural. According to Wikipedia, the original meaning of “street” was just a paved road and Ask Oxford says:

The terms may frequently apply to exactly the same thing. However, ‘road’ is a general term, whereas ‘street’ is narrower in sense and chiefly urban in application: a street typically has buildings on either side, and is paved or metalled.

There’s also hundreds of exclusions (such as Abbey Road in central London).

Well yes, you would get an answer like that from “Ask Oxford” wouldn’t you? Tally ho, cheerio and pip pip, mate!

From Wikipedia “Street”:
A street is a paved public thoroughfare in the built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as concrete, cobblestone or brick. Portions may also be smoothed with asphalt, embedded with rails, or otherwise prepared to accommodate non-pedestrian traffic.

From Wikipedia “Road”:
A road is an identifiable route, way or path between places. Roads are typically smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel; though they need not be, and historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or maintenance.

Back to “Street” again:
Originally the word “street” simply meant a paved road (Latin: “via strata”). The word “street” is still sometimes used colloquially as a synonym for “road”, for example in connection with the ancient Watling Street, but city residents and urban planners draw a crucial modern distinction: a road’s main function is transportation, while streets facilitate public interaction. Examples of streets include pedestrian streets, alleys, and city-centre streets too crowded for road vehicles to pass. Conversely, highways and motorways are types of roads, but few would refer to them as streets.

We wrote about your example in Harlech, Wales in the March 2006 issue of hidden europe magazine, having visited this road a month earlier. It is indeed formidably steep. Dauntingly so. True, it does have that admonition discouraging use by motor vehicles, but such signs are very common in Britain. Such signs are often disregarded, and so that Harlech road is used a lot. Definitely a car every minute or two in daylight hours. We think the 40 per cent grade sign is plausible, but the road only reaches such steep inclines on the inside of the very tight curves.
Nicky and Susanne
editors
hidden europe magazine
http://www.hiddeneurope.co.uk

I visited Lincoln last week and that had a rather steep hill called… er, Steep Hill. I doubt it is steep those in your list and the steepest bit was pedestrianised so it wouldn’t count any way, but I think it deserves a mention for being so aptly named.

That crash barrier at the bottom of the PA road doesn’t look like it would stop much. The house behind the barrier looks derelict. I wonder if the residents fled after that barrier got hit a few times.

I can vouch for the West 7th Street in Alton, Illinois between State St. and Belle St. being shockingly steep, and I’ve been on really steep streets in both Pittsburgh AND San Francisco to compare. I was actually surprised to see it mentioned here though, because I just happened across it one day while exploring Alton and had to make a note of what street it was. West 7th. It dropped my jaw (and my foot on the brakes!) I’ve searched for a mention online before, thinking, “surely this is right up there with Pittsburgh and San Francisco and recognized for it” but until now I’ve never seen it mentioned.

This road in Cherokee County, Alabama should rival the aforementioned streets.
County Road 275 – start on Lookout Mountain @ 34°16’56.66″N 85°41’19.71″W (by the fire lookout tower) and travel to the bottom of the hill @ 34°16’38.49″N 85°40’48.37″W (near the entrance to the mouth park). This road is steep – it’s poorly paved – has awkward banking in the curves with sharp switchbacks, the vegetation offers bad visibility, and it’s VERY steep.

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Previously on Google Sightseeing

Europe plays host to some of the planet’s most breathtaking mountain vistas. Much of this wonderful scenery is accessible relatively easily by vehicle – and therefore by Street View! In this entry, we count down the five highest paved roads on the continent.

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